


Three Little Words

by JenJo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, M/M, SamSteve fic exchange, minor natsharon, minor winterhawk, when i say minor i mean blink and you'll miss it minor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 19:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: From 'on your left' to 'this is perfect', Sam and Steve's relationship had revolved around sets of three words.The road to the ending is not as smooth as they'd like, but the journey is half the adventure, right?~“On your left.”Three simple words. Silly words, when Steve thought back on them. But they always said that simple was best.Steve did not know how to talk to the mysterious man, so he had teased him.Luckily, Sam had responded well. Not so luckily, Steve had inadvertently overturned the world a week later.But through it all, Sam had been there, for no logical reason that Steve could think of.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sororising](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sororising/gifts).



> Sororising,  
> Your prompts were perfect. So perfect, I combined... almost all of them.  
> So thank you, and I hope you enjoy this.
> 
> Note on the verse:  
> I tried to convey this in the fic, but I want to make it clear:  
> this fic takes place in one of my favourite universes: Post Winter Soldier, pre everything else.  
> So SHIELD has fallen, but no Ultron.  
> The Six characters in this fic all kind of operate as a subset of the Avengers, but don't call themselves that.  
> It's been enough years since WS that Bucky has been brought in, and is in a position where he is in a relationship.  
> Enjoy.

 

_ Beep. Beep. Beep. _

For someone who was supposed to be injured much less than the average person, Steve sure did seem to be spending a lot of time in hospitals lately.

But then, if it had been  _ for  _ him, maybe it wouldn’t have felt so wrong. 

The steady rhythm of the heart rate monitor had been Steve’s only companion for the past three days, the only indication that Sam was still alive. To look at Sam was heartbreaking; for the first time since they had met, Sam looked broken. The easy smile that sat on his face was nowhere to be seen, replaced with a straight line. His eyelids were closed, but no movement underneath. 

Steve had been unable to move from the room, only moving to use the adjoining bathroom. 

The nurses who came in had started to bring him food; they had given up on trying to move him after the first three hours.

Steve would not leave until Sam woke up.

_ Sam  _ will  _ wake. _

 

~~~~~

 

_ “On your left.” _

Three simple words. Silly words, when Steve thought back on them. But they always said that simple was best.

Steve did not know how to talk to the mysterious man, so he had teased him.

Luckily, Sam had responded well. Not so luckily, Steve had inadvertently overturned the world a week later.

But through it all, Sam had been there, for no logical reason that Steve could think of.

The first thing that Steve saw when he woke up in that hospital was Sam.  And even though he was unable to tell where he was, or for how long he had been unconscious, there was only one thing that Steve could say. Three words that would bring out the perfect smile from Sam.

“On your left.”

 

~

 

Steve sighed again. 

“What is eating you alive?”

Steve raised his eyes to look at Natasha. “What?”

Natasha gestured to Steve, taking a seat across from him with her own lunch. “You haven’t eaten. There’s been food in front of you for ten minutes, and not a bite.”

Steve shrugged, pushing the lettuce around with his fork. “Been thinking.”

“About someone in particular?”

Steve narrowed his eyes at Natasha, at her knowing expression. “You know who I am talking about.”

She nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Yes, yes I do.”

“And?” Steve asked, when Natasha left it at that, choosing instead to take another bite of her sandwich.

Natasha ( _ very purposefully _ , if Steve was narrating) took another bite of her sandwich, before lowering it back to her plate. She took a sip of water, keeping eye contact with Steve the entire time. When it was clear that Steve was not going to speak, she spoke again.

“And I won’t say anything until you name him.”

Steve stared at Natasha as he took a bite of his food.  _ Two can play at this game. _

Either Natasha decided to take pity on him, or chose not to play the game anymore. Steve would bet on the former. 

“Fine, but you should say something.” Natasha stood up, having finished her sandwich. ( _ When?  _ When  _ did she finish it? _ ) After picking up her plate, she remained a moment longer to look at Steve. “Before it’s too late.”

Steve watched her walk away, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore.

_ Can’t say anything _ .

 

~

 

_ Not a word. _

_ Not a word,  _ Steve thought as he punched the bag again.  _ Not a word. _

Because how could he say anything? How could Steve possibly consider ruining such a great friendship?

Waking up seventy years in the future had been jarring, to use one word. Steve had plenty more words he could be using, but then he’d spend a whole day saying words, and that wasn’t right.

Neither was punching  _ another  _ bag into nothing, but that was what the supply closet was for.

Teaming up with the Avengers to save the world almost felt normal. Waking up to a world in danger, it felt like 1944 all over again. 

But then, the world didn’t need the Avengers all in one place. So they split. Except Steve didn’t have anywhere to split  _ to _ , so he accepted Fury’s offer of a job.

_ Protect the world. Be it’s shield. _

And then the world fell apart. And somehow in the middle of it, he had found a place for himself.

New friends, as well as an old one.  _ Bucky  _ was alive. It took a lot, but he was back. 

This place of his, it was good. SHIELD might be gone, but the six of them were doing good work for the world.

Three spies, two ninety year old super soldiers, and a bird. Carter, Romanoff, Barton, Barnes, Rogers, Wilson.  They were a strange mix, but it was their mix. Their team worked, and there was nothing that Steve would do to jeopardise their work.

Which was why Steve did not want to ruin it by telling Sam what he felt for him.  No, Steve would say nothing, and continue to punch bad number seven. 

_ Not. A. Word. _

 

~

 

“I’ve been thinking.”

Sam rolled his eyes as he swooped down to pick up Natasha, who had just taken out (another) HYDRA base.

“I’ve heard those words come out of your mouth many,  _ many _ , times. Never have they been followed by anything good,” Sam replied once they had landed a safe distance away from the base.

Natasha shook her head, watching the base blow sky high. “You clearly haven’t spent enough time around Barton. He’s the king of bad decisions.”

Sam sighed, signalling for their evac transport. “Do you have a point?”

Natasha turned her back on the explosion. “Why are you single?”

Sam had not been expecting that.  He looked up from his wrist, clearly shocked. “Excuse me?”

“You clearly don’t have a lack of options-”

“I don’t think-”

“Many of them are quite nice-”

“That this is any-”

“But I suppose there’s only one man for you.”

“Concern of your-  _ what _ ?”

Natasha looked up, their evac helicopter arriving. She turned a smile to Sam.

“Time to go.”

 

~

 

_ She is right. _

Sam stared at his reflection, shaking his head and resuming his stretching. Post mission adrenaline was always annoying; Sam wanted nothing more than collapse into his bed and sleep for a month, but his body didn’t.

_ And then there’s what Romanoff said.  _ Sam knew that she was coming from a place of love. You didn’t spend as much time together as they did without getting to know the people around you.

_ Sharon loves to watch trashy reality tv. Natasha loves to help others. Clint loves to sing (even though he’s great, singing at two am on a stakeout is not appropriate, I don’t care how much experience he has. No singing). Bucky loves the small things; the taste of ice cream, the smell of lemon soap. Steve loves… Steve loves… _

Sam sighed, seemingly stuck. Well, that’s a lie; he knew  _ exactly  _ what Steve loves.

_ Steve loves waking up early, and going for a run. Steve loves catching his shield. Steve loves cooking for everyone. Steve loves knowing that everyone was safe. Steve loves saving the world. _

_ Sam loves Steve. _

Sam frowned, moving to another stretch. There was no lying to himself; he had fallen in love with the giant golden retriever who had entered his life with those three teasing words.

_ What kind of person uses  _ running  _ as flirting? _

But maybe it wasn’t flirting? Sam was the first to admit that he was not great at picking up when someone was flirting with him.  _ Maybe Steve was just trying to be friendly. _

_ Well, it worked, hadn’t it? _

Sam had followed Steve into a new life, the life of a superhero. It was ridiculous, if Sam spent too long thinking about it. He  _ flew  _ in a team made up of some of the scariest, most efficient people he had ever met. But he wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

_ Well, maybe you’d trade it for a chance to tell Steve how you felt. _

Sam stood up, glaring at his reflection before turning around and finding a treadmill to run on. 

_ I’m not going to risk  _ everything  _ to tell him that. What we have now is great.  _

_ Better than great. _

 

~

 

“Steve’s being mopey.”

Bucky made this statement as he stood in front of one of the booths in the common area. When they had first chosen this building to operate out of, one of the requirements had been ‘must have a booth’.

(Bucky wasn’t around then, though he believed that that had been Clint’s requirement. It didn’t make much sense, but if Bucky had learnt one thing about the man, it was that Clint didn’t make sense.)

Clint moved over in the booth as Bucky joined him, giving Clint a kiss on the cheek. “What’s he done this time?”

“Don’t know, he won’t tell me,” Bucky shrugged, before nodding across the table. “Natasha, Sharon.”

“Bucky,” they replied in unison. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be on monitor duty?” He asked Sharon, who pushed her phone across the table. Bucky looked at it; two green dots were moving across the map.

“Everything I can do while on monitor duty, I can do with that phone.” Sharon paused to take a drink of her coffee. “Might as well do monitor duty in a comfy environment.”

“Why did I never think of that?” Bucky asked as he gave the phone back.

“When you’ve done as much monitor duty as I have, you learn how to enjoy it.” 

“Coffee’s just the way you like it,” Clint told Bucky, sliding a mug over. “So, no idea at all about Steve?”

“None.”

“I know what’s wrong with him.”

Bucky turned to Natasha, raising his eyebrows. “Well?”

Natasha shrugged, smiling as she drank her coffee, maintaining eye contact with Bucky.

Bucky sighed, turning to Clint. “You ask her.”

Clint shook his head. “No, I can’t make her do anything.”

Bucky turned to Sharon, who held up a hand before he opened his mouth. “I may be her girlfriend, but I’m not going to be able to get an answer from her.”

Bucky closed his eyes, breathing out through his nose, before opening them and reaching for his coffee. Natasha waited for him to take a drink before speaking.

“He’s interested in someone.”

Bucky didn’t react. He swallowed his mouthful, and lowered the cup slowly. “Was that supposed to surprise me?”

“It’s surprised me,” Clint said, pointing at Natasha. “So who is it?”

“Not saying.”

“You know who else has been acting mopey lately? Sam.”

“You don’t think…” Clint trailed off, shaking his head. “No, no way. Why would anyone be interested in dating a ninety year old super soldier?”

Bucky, Natasha, and Sharon all paused in their drinking to stare at Clint. Clint, who hadn’t stopped drinking his coffee, looked back at the three. “What?”

Whatever response was coming, was interrupted by Sharon’s phone buzzing. She looked at it, before standing up.

“We’ve lost their signal.”

The booth was cleared in seconds; all four racing to get to the jet with only one thought in mind:

_ We’ll find them. _

 

~

 

_ Not even surprised. _

Why would Steve be surprised?  _ Of course  _ he would get a building dropped on top of him during a routine surveillance mission.  _ Of course  _ their comms would be fried. And  _ of course  _ Sam would be trapped with him.

Oh, they weren’t in danger of the building collapsing further. Not at the moment, at least. They seemed safe in their little cavern; a bit squashed, but nothing terrible. Steve was able to sit up straight, and stretch out his legs, and Sam was able to do the same.

Sam didn’t look too good though. Steve had tried to shield Sam, but a shield wasn’t much protection against a building. 

They were trapped in a cavern; any excessive movement caused the structure to shake. Escape wasn’t an option; they had to hope that their team was on their way.

“Not supposed to be seeing stars am I?” Steve turned to Sam, who was holding a hand in front of his face. “At least, I’m not supposed to be seeing stars that  _ aren’t  _ on you, right?”

“Think you have a concussion.”

“I think so too. Wasn’t this supposed to be a simple job?”

Steve laughed. 

“Why are you laughing?”

“When is our job ever simple?”

Sam continued to frown at Steve while he laughed, before joining in. “Okay, yeah. You might have a point.”

“Only might?” 

Sam stopped laughing, frowning again at Steve.

Steve also stopped laughing. “What?”

“Why do you do that?”

“What?”

“That thing where you flirt with me, but then you don’t.”

“Sam, you’re not making any sense. Maybe you should rest.”

“Nah, I’m great. Never felt better.” Sam closed his eyes, frowning. “Well, in my head anyway. Nausea is terrible.”

“All the more reason to stay quiet, get better.”

“Nah. Need to come up with a plan. Can’t come up with a plan if we’re quiet.” Sam opened his eyes, looking at his hands. He lowered his voice, talking to himself. “You probably could.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sam looked up, looking straight at Steve. “Right. I forgot your hearing. You’re great at coming up with plans without telling anyone else.”

“What?”

Sam waved a hand at Steve. “You’ve stopped talking to me.”

“No I haven’t.”

“Yeah you have. You’d rather break another bag than talk to me. Gotta say, that hurts.”

Steve shook his head. “No, you’ve got it wrong. I haven’t been avoiding you; I’ve been trying to work out what to say to you.”

“Huh?” Sam frowned at Steve. “What?”

“Your turn to be confused,” Steve muttered, stretching out his legs. “What I meant is, I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you out on a date, but I haven’t been able to figure out the right words.”

“A date.”

“Multiple dates?”

“You want to date  _ me _ .”

“Yes?”

“Why?”

“Why? Sam, you’re amazing. Calling you my friend is a great honour, you’re one of the best people I know.  I can’t imagine a life without.”

Sam laughed, closing his eyes. “Sounds like you’re proposing, Rogers. Think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there.”

Steve huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. Not trying to propose, Sam. Just asking you out.”

Steve watched Sam, waiting for a reply. A minute passed, and the only sound in the small space was Steve’s breathing.

“Sam?”

Steve reached out, not wanting to move too much and disturb the structure. He pressed Sam’s shoulder, and got no reaction. Sam’s head had fallen forward, and he wasn’t breathing.

“SAM!” Structure be damned, Steve crawled over to Sam’s side, checking for signs of life.

“Sam, don’t go,” Steve whispered, staring desperately at a lifeless Sam.

_ Please don’t go. _

 

~~~~~

 

_ Beep. Beep. Beep. _

The first sounds that Sam could hear were the sounds of a hospital room. The second sounds were that of someone snoring.

It took Sam three attempts to open his eyes, and a further four to get them to focus on his bedside companion.

_ Steve. _

It only took Sam one attempt to say the name.

“Steve.”

Sam was almost certain that the sound was barely above a whisper, but it was enough to have Steve’s eyes flying open, head leaving his fist and leaning forward in his chair.

“You’re awake.”

“Barely,” Sam huffed out, closing his eyes again.

“Sam?”

Sam tried to lift his hand, and wave off Steve’s concern. “It’s hard to keep ‘em open. But I’m here.”

“Good.”

“You can start yelling at me for getting injured now.”

He heard Steve huff out a laugh. “Not gonna yell at you Sam.”

“Why not? Normally you would.”

“Well, this isn’t exactly  _ normal, _ is it?”

_ What _ , Sam thought,  _ what does that mean? Wait…  _

A memory came back to Sam, and he groaned.

“Do I need to call someone?”

“Nah just remembering something. I wasn’t hallucinating us being trapped, was I?”

“No.”

“So I wasn’t hallucinating that you tried to ask me out?”

“Tried?” Sam heard Steve laugh a little. “Sam, I  _ did  _ ask you out. You just fell unconscious before I had a chance to.”

“Excuses, excuses. If I recall, you had plenty of time to ask. You just chose to use too many words.”

“Can’t wait for you to be out of that bed.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“So I can yell at you.”

“Aww, is that love I can hear in your voice?”

Steve didn’t respond to that, causing Sam to force his eyes open. Steve was sitting there, staring at Sam in a way that he could not interpret.

“What?”

Steve reached out towards Sam’s hand, before pausing. “Would it hurt you if I hold your hand?”

Sam wanted to laugh, if it wouldn’t have hurt him. “I think I can handle it.”

Steve smiled, taking Sam’s hand gently in his, before looking into Sam’s eyes. “You could hear love in my voice Sam.”

Sam was struggling to keep his eyes open, the lure of sleep becoming too much. “Good to know I wasn’t hearing things.”

“Go to sleep Sam,” Steve said, rubbing Sam’s arm. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

Sam closed his eyes, a smile on his face. He was able to get out one more sentence before falling asleep.

“Love you too.”

 

~

 

“So how’s Sam?”

Steve accepted the coffee from Bucky, who sat down beside him. “Sam’s getting a check up from the Doctor, final one before he’s released. He’s great. Well, besides the broken legs, and concussion.”

“Legs, plural?”

“Yeah. He won’t be able to do any field work for at least six months.”

“Ouch. Carter’s already reworked the roster, also given you some time off.”

Steve turned to Bucky, raising an eyebrow. “Me? Why?”

Bucky rolled his eyes, gesturing to Sam’s room with his coffee. “Well  _ someone  _ will have to look after Sam, make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

“And that someone is me?”

“We figure it’ll stop you being mopey.”

“Mopey?”

“Yeah. Past couple of months you’ve been…  _ mopey _ . You haven’t been like this since the last time you had a crush on someone.”

Steve shook his head. “Don’t have a crush on Sam.”

“Damn, there’s ten bucks I owe Clint.”

Steve gave Bucky a hurt look. “You bet ten bucks on me having a crush?”

“Technically, it was on Sam wanting to date you. But if there’s no crush, then there’s probably no dating. Though, to be fair, ten bucks is the cost of a day’s worth of coffee and pizza. Which, when you say it like that, sounds like a lot more.”

“Besides, Clint owes you,” Steve said, before taking a drink of his coffee, waiting for Bucky to put together the pieces. 

“Wait…” Bucky put his free hand on Steve’s shoulder. “You don’t have a crush on him, because you’re a couple?”

“Took ya long enough.”

“Hey, this is great! When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday…” Bucky trailed off, looking at Steve. “Sam woke up yesterday.”

“Your point?”

“No point. I’m happy for you. We should have a party.”

“No party.”

“We’re having a party. Can’t stop us. We all want to see you happy, and you clearly are.”

Steve laughed, looking back at Sam’s room. 

_ Yeah. I’m happy. _

 

~

 

“Was it real?”

Sam turned his head so that he could look at Steve over the back of the couch. Steve was staring out the window above the sink, holding onto the metal.

Sam had been out of the hospital for a week, and wasn’t going to be walking anywhere by himself for at least another eight. Last night, the team had held a combined ‘Welcome Home/Congratulations’ party. It was still so surreal, the whole situation.

_ In the span of a week, I’ve had a building fall on top of me, and got a boyfriend. How is this my life? _

Sam couldn’t see Steve’s exact expression, but he liked to think that he’d gotten good at reading Steve over the years.  _ Steve is probably staring at everything and nothing, trying to focus but too consumed by his thoughts.  _

“Was what real?”

“Us,” Steve turned to Sam, expression closed off. “Love. This wasn’t some kind of deathbed confession from us both was it?”

Sam shook his head, wishing that he could get up and wrap Steve up in his arms, dispel any doubt that Steve had. “No Steve. Been wanting to say it for some time now.”

The change in Steve’s expression when he heard Sam’s words was amazing, and brought a smile to Sam’s face. 

“Good. So did I.”

“Good.” Sam patted the couch next to him. “Come over here?”

Steve gestured to the sink next to him. “I need to finish the dishes.”

“They aren’t going anywhere.”

“Well neither are you,” Steve pointed out as he came to stand in front of the couch.

“Hilarious,” Sam deadpanned, patting the couch next to him. Once Steve was seated, Sam dropped his head into Steve’s lap, closing his eyes with a smile.  _ I’ll say it every minute of every day  if I have to, to let you know that it’s true.  _ “Love you.”

“I’m not moving anytime soon am I?” Steve asked, though Sam could hear the smile in his voice.

Sam reached blindly for Steve’s hand, squeezing it when Steve met him halfway. “Not a chance. Love you.”

He could practically  _ see  _ the smile on Steve’s face, knowing that he wore a matching one as he felt Steve pull a blanket over the top of them both.

“Love you too Sam.”

Sam nodded, continuing to smile as he felt Steve run his hand over Sam’s arm. He never would have dreamed that he could have  _ this _ , could find this level of contentment with the man who had stolen his heart too long ago to count the days. Sam made a promise to himself, that he would never give Steve a reason to doubt his love. 

And falling asleep on Steve’s lap, despite the pain of two broken legs, he couldn’t help but feel nothing but happiness.

_ This is perfect. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed :D


End file.
